HRD Antwerp will start offering bilingual diamond grading reports, with the first available in English/Korean and English/Chinese from February 1, 2017.
The announcement was made as part of an economic mission to South Korea (Seoul) and China (Shanghai), presided over by Antwerp's Mayor Bart De Wever.
"The South-Korean market represents great opportunities and our presence here today is just a first step in what will undoubtedly become a mutually beneficial relationship," says Ari Epstein, Chairman of HRD Antwerp.
"The donation of the M-Screen+ as well as the premiere of the new bilingual HRD Antwerp diamond grading reports in English/Korean are a token of that shared ambition, and will at the same time greatly enhance consumer confidence, both in our product and in Antwerp as centre of excellence.”
HRD Antwerp will gradually be offering bilingual grading reports in other foreign languages over the course of the next year. The new service, alongside additional design improvements and safety features, is aimed at better informing consumers on the specific terminology used to describe the diamonds they purchase, the lab said in a statement.
The Korean jewelry industry will now also be able to use the M-Screen+, the latest version of the acclaimed screening device, which automatically feeds, screens and sorts round brilliant diamonds as small as 0.5 points up to 10 points, with a top speed of 15,000 diamonds an hour and automatically detects whether the diamonds are natural, potential lab-grown/HPHT, color treated or simulants.